The employment picture in Elkhart County, Ind., continues to brighten. Sort of.

The county, home to the lion’s share of the nation’s RV manufacturers and suppliers, posted am 11.6% unemployment rate in February, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (IDWD) reported today (March 25).

That’s down from the 12.2% reported in January.

The improvement allowed the county to fall all the way down to 15th place in the state’s rankings by county. Elkhart has stood in the No. 1 spot for much of the past two years and only fell out of the top spot in January.

Now, with two months under its belt, a trend seems to be forming.

However, the flip side of that paints a different picture: the county’s labor force shrunk in February, falling by 469 jobs. This suggests that most of those left the area or simply stopped looking for jobs.

After adding an estimated 4,000 jobs in January, the county added just 78 jobs in February, again, according to estimates.

Meanwhile, the jobless rates for Elkhart and Goshen seemed to improve, too, Elkhart’s falling from 14% to 13.6% and Goshen’s falling from 12.7% to 11.7%. IDWD estimated that Elkhart city employers added 20 workers in February, while Goshen employers added 12.

Indiana’s preliminary seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate dropped 0.3%, to 8.8% in February. This marks the first time since December 2008 the state’s unemployment rate has been less than 9%. Indiana’s rate is now just below the national average of 8.9% and below that of all neighboring states.